'02 Ford Ranger Tranny Help Needed

[73vertproject]

Hey Guys -

Well, we made it from Nevada to 300 yards from our property at the top of the mountain in Montana yesterday. We've driven our '02 Ranger 2WD every year without trouble, and this year drove it again. Sadly, 300 yards from our property up the side of a mountain the wife said it lost all power, and wouldn't go any further. I was driving our 4WD Wrangler and ran back down the road to find her in a puddle of ATF. Checked the level and it still had some ATF in her but not enough.

Fetched a few quarts and put 2 inside, then tried to add a third quart and it all ran straight through onto the ground. Fired her up and drove back down the mountain with no problems, out onto the highway at 60mph for the 4 miles back into town. Everything shifted normally, both up and down.

Took it to the small garage and described everything. The young mechanic smelled the tranny dipstick and said that the ATF had been boiled and we'd need to replace the tranny for about $2000. The truck has 130K, and although it has run flawlessly for the last 10 years, I'm very hesitant to put a bunch of money into it. Any thoughts about trying to drive it back to Nevada with a case of ATF in the back, bite the bullet and pay $2K to replace the tranny (he said it would be a rebuilt or junkyard unit) or put a bullet into her and take the bus back home? We brought the Wrangler up to stay here on our property.

All thoughts are welcome. I'll try to get back on here in the next day or two.

 

[TheJ]

I'm a big supporter of fixing things, having said that it usually helps that I do most of it myself. I would say fix it but first what motor is in it?

 

[Tnfastbk]

I think i would get a uhaul trailer and tow her back home

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

I'm with Roy. Local pull a part will sell transmissions for under a hundred bucks with a 30 day warranty. While the reality is you have to do all the work to find out if it is any good . . . it is still much cheaper than 2K. Your vehicle is worthless if it can't be driven and you can't get a fair price for it. I would not invest 2K or even 1k, but I would spend a few hundred and a weekend before I gave up on it.

 

[TheJ]

I'm with you guys on towing it home. If you don't want to do all the work, Doc, you can take it to a shop you're more comfortable with and get a second opinion.

 

[OMS]

Doc, how steep was " up the side of a mountian " and for how long ?

I remember when we went mudding, my old 88 Bronco would stop pulling when climbing long steep hills sometimes. Roll it down the hill trans would kick back into gear.

Since you added fluid and it now runs, drives, shifts ? Seems odd.

What is the fluid level on flat ground.

How about a quick lube type place for a flush and fill. I'm not a big fan of the quick flush and fill thru the lines but in this case it may be worth a gamble.

 

[73vertproject]

Thanks guys. Don, it's pretty steep the last 1/4 mile - most 2wd cars would have a hard time getting enough momentum going to make it. The 2 miles before that is a decent grade - probably 10% or so. Probably 10 minutes worth of pretty steep to quite steep. This was after 3 hours of up and down highway driving through the hills.

I'm going to drive her 53 miles into Missoula today and do the flush and fill like Don said. If I make it OK, and they don't see major mechanical problems, I'll leave her down in Missoula with our friends and then try to get home with her. Updates later.

 

[turtle5353]

I had an old ranger with an auto tranny and 4.0 motor that we wheeled the heck out of. When we were hill climbing or rock crawling steep inclines, it would sometimes give out on me and puke tranny fluid all over. I kept extra tranny fluid when i was wheeling just in case. Friend of mine told me the tranny was getting too hot and pretty much boiling over and puking tranny fluid. Once it cooled and i filled it again away we would go. It did this on several wheeling trips, but always came back to life after it cooled. Sold the truck with same tranny in it. Hopefully you get lucky and thats all it did. GOOD LUCK!!

 

[73vertproject]

Thanks, all. Our three weeks here are precious and not worth worrying about the danged Ranger tranny, so I dropped it off the a great tranny shop in Missoula, made sure the credit card was still in my wallet, and picked up the fishing boat with the Wrangler. I'll pick up the Ranger in a couple weeks and trade it for the credit card. In the meantime, my only concern is keeping the tackle box full of bait and the cooler full of beer. Thanks for your advice and I'll catch up with you in a few weeks!

 

[73vertproject]

Hey folks! Made it back home and except for the transmission troubles we had a fantastic trip. Went ahead and R/R'd it - came with a 24 month 24K mile warranty.

I'm going to be in and out here for a few weeks, so don't send any milk bottle people after me...

 

[caspianwendell]

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